Mary Wollstonecraft (1759-1797), best known for A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, was thus a foremother of feminism. She was also a war reporter, a pedagogue, a spiritual quester, a radical republican, a single mother, a passionate & taboo-breaking lover.
Her story is ripe for the telling. This blog gathers anecdotes, freelance research, resources, and news of current projects: your one-stop Mary Wollstonecraft shop!

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Friday, July 8, 2011

Statues in Women's Rights National Historical Park, Seneca Falls, New York

By DevinCook [Public domain],
via Wikimedia Commons

There are some incredible statues of women's rights campaigners in the United States. All this week, in honour of Independence Day, we have been looking at Mary Wollstonecraft and early America. Today, as part of a Friday series designed to feed in to the Mary on the Green project, we showcase sculptural representatives of those who took A Vindication of the Rights of Woman seriously.

The largest grouping of statues is called The First Wave, and is by Lloyd Lillie, Professor Emeritus at Boston University College of Fine Arts. The dozen bronzes are part of the entry into the Women's Rights National Historical Park in upstate New York, commemorating the site of the 1848 Seneca Falls Convention. At this event, some of the women we introduced yesterday got to meet in the flesh, namely co-organiser Lucrecia Mott and guest speaker Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Much to my dismay, Wikimedia Commons holds no images of The First Wave, and only one inadequate one of the park itself. The following are provided by the National Parks Service for download (link to gallery):

James and Lucrecia Mott:

Frederick Douglass and Elizabeth Cady Stanton:

Also in the visitor centre is a terracotta statue of Sojourner Truth.

Most of these images can be found as a Flickr gallery, which I created for those who prefer slideshows.

1 comment:

These are powerful and fine sculptures, not "statues". The term "statue" connotes something static and inert. Anyone seeing the work in person has no difficulty seeing a sense of life in each figure. "Statue", in this instance, does a great disservice to the artist, the sculptor.